Five Years Later: Chapter Thirteen

Hours later, Gretchen is sleeping soundly next to Claire, curled up against her in a fetal position, her bare back warm against Claire's chest. Claire holds tight to her, but is wide awake herself, and feels an indescribable need to get up. The candles are burning low and need to be extinguished anyway. And, they forgot to close the balcony doors before getting under the covers ... which happened rather quickly, she remembers with a smile. She can hear the waves lapping up against the shore, and the sea air is calling to her. She takes a deep breath of it, and makes up her mind to get out of bed and look outside for a bit.

She carefully detaches herself from Gretchen's sleeping form, and Gretchen releases a drowsy moan in response, but does not wake up. As Claire steps out of the covers, naked and chilled by the outside breeze, Gretchen rolls over and smiles in her sleep, her eyes still blissfully closed.

Claire pulls the covers up around her to keep her warm and watches her for a moment, stroking her hair gently as she sleeps.

"My God, you're beautiful," she whispers, hoping Gretchen will hear this subconsciously. "I don't think I've told you that yet. Why haven't I told you that?"

Gretchen stirs peacefully at this, and Claire stands up, not wanting to risk waking her any further. It's a been a very long day ... for both of them. She can tell Gretchen everything she's feeling in the morning.

And she is feeling a lot.

She first walks around the room blowing out candles, then looks for something to cover herself with. Finding a robe in the closet, she pulls it around her and sighs pleasantly at the warmth it brings.

Then, she walks out onto the balcony and takes another deep breath, closing her eyes, and letting it fill all her senses. Opening them again, she gazes out at the stirring ocean and leans against the railing, her hair blowing wildly in the wind. Immediately her thoughts return to Gretchen ... and to what they just shared. As she allows the images of it to replay in her mind, her knees go weak, and she has to grip the railing to keep from losing balance for a second. Just the image of the way Gretchen had looked at her as they were making love is enough to cause her whole body to tremble.

And then, she suddenly realizes something. She's had sex before, but ... she had never made love to anyone until now. She has never been in love at all until now. The thought of this is warm and reassuring ... at first, and she clutches her heart with one hand, as if placing Gretchen protectively within it.

But, as she feels her heart pounding hard beneath her hand, it is hard to ignore another thought that has been trying to creep in uninvited all along. The thought that has been keeping her awake in the first place; eating away at her and threatening to invade the peace that tonight has brought her ...

What if I can't stop Elle? What if the vision comes true? What have I gotten Gretchen into?

She is so busy obsessing over her fear, that she doesn't remember to use it to her own advantage. She doesn't even stop to think that Elle may already be here ... lurking in the shadows.

And, soon enough, she feels a grip on her arm out of nowhere. The grip is strong, and is accompanied by a light jolt of electricity. Claire snaps to attention, surprised, but not in pain.

Still holding tight to Claire's arm, Elle Bishop gives her a wicked smile and says in a whisper, "Shh ... wouldn't want to wake the new girlfriend, would we? I think that would be a tragic mistake on your part right now, don't you?"

Claire swallows her fear down and gives Elle a fierce look in return. "Why?" she replies. "Aren't you just going to kill her anyway?"

Elle laughs at this, and, next to her, Becky also materializes, looking pretty fierce herself ... and pissed off.

"That would be my vote," Becky chimes in.

"Now, now, Becky," cautions Elle. "Settle down. Let's not do anything rash. Besides ... what would be the fun in killing her now? There's plenty of time for that later ... after the game's had time to get more interesting ... you know what I mean?"

"Where's the Haitian?" asks Claire, ignoring Elle's sadistic comments.

"Taken care of," answers Elle. "We kind of got the jump on him before he had time to wake up and use that awesome little power on us. I must say ... that's a handy little trick he has. Not very common, from what I know. He'll be very useful to us in the future."

Too angry to hold back anymore now, Claire fights to free herself. But, Elle only laughs at her efforts and intensifies the electric current pulsing through her.

Despite her tolerance for pain, the current still renders Claire useless. It can't kill her, but it can certainly subdue her ... for now.

"Will you stop struggling already?" asks Elle, still laughing. "You're going to wake your precious Gretchen if you're not careful ... and, I promise you: I will fry her in two seconds flat if you don't start behaving yourself."

Claire stops as warned immediately, still giving Elle a murderous look, but no longer making any attempts to free herself.

"What about Peter?" asks Claire. "What have you done with him and Stephanie?"

"Oh, don't worry about the Prince of All Powers," assures Elle. "He and his other half are sleeping away like angels, and will be for hours. They've been injected with the most powerful drug ... believe me. Wouldn't work on you, of course, but ... even Peter isn't immune to modern medicine."

"He'll come for you, Elle," warns Claire, still without struggle. "You have to know that."

"Oh, I do, Claire," replies Elle with a knowing smile. "Trust me, I do. Why, that's going to be the best part ... eventually. For now, though, I'll just settle for you coming with us ... quietly. And, we'd better hurry too. Girlfriend's gonna wake up any second now."

Claire looks back at the room with a deep look of sorrow. Gretchen's motionless form still lies beneath the covers Claire had tucked her into moments earlier, blissfully unaware that their worst fears are currently occurring just outside the open balcony doors.

I'm sorry, Gretchen, Claire thinks to herself, her heart breaking ... I am so, so sorry.

Growing impatient, Elle pulls at her arm, and Claire follows. With Becky leading the way, they all three disappear into the night ...

Headed for where, Claire has no idea. It's really the what that concerns her now.

*************

Gretchen stirs and turns in her sleep to snuggle with Claire, but is awakened by the immediate realization that Claire is not beside her anymore. Concerned, but not fearfully so, she sits up and looks around the dark room. The candles have all been extinguished, and the only light in the room is from the full moon, shining in from the open balcony doors in front of her.

She pulls the covers aside and swings her legs out of the bed, and is suddenly reminded of the fact that she is completely naked. Pulling the comforter off the bed, she wraps it around her nude form and walks slowly towards the balcony.

All of a sudden, her heart is racing a mile a minute.

Where is Claire?

The balcony is empty. And, looking out over the railing, she sees that the beach is empty as well. There isn't a soul in sight. And, that racing in her heart is getting faster and faster by the second.

She starts to panic. Forgetting that all she has on is a comforter, she runs back into the room, out it's door, and down the hallway.

"Claire!" she starts screaming out. "Claire!"

She frantically opens the door to Peter and Stephanie's room, running to their bed to shake them awake.

"Peter, Peter," she calls out, shaking his arm. "Wake up! Wake up, Peter! She's gone!"

Too impatient to wait for him to stop snoozing, she runs back out of the room and races to Rene's room next, throwing open the door in a mad rush, without even considering to knock first. His bed is unmade, but empty. He is also nowhere in sight.

Gretchen feels her heart literally start to break, an actual pain seizing her chest, and she grabs at her heart for a moment. She can barely breathe, the pain is so real, but she can't give up on Claire now. Not after what they shared.

I said I needed to be stronger for her, and that's what I'm going to do. Damn it, Gretchen! Toughen up!

With this thought playing over and over in her head now, like a mantra to beat a drum to, she runs back to Peter's room and stands over him, wondering what to do next. He and Stephanie have clearly been drugged, either supernaturally or otherwise. And, not knowing what else to do; and desperate to do something, she steels herself, gathering every ounce of strength she has in her ... and slaps Peter across the face as hard as she can.

He winces, shutting his eyes tighter against the pain, but does not wake all the way up.

Nevertheless, it is all the hope she needs. She grabs both of his arms and begins shaking him again.

"Peter, Peter!" she screams, "Wake up! Please, Peter ... Wake up, God damn it!"

Finally, Peter blinks his eyes open, and regards her with a strange look.

"What the ..." he starts to say, trying to sit up on his elbows. "What's happened? Why is everything so blurry?"

"They've drugged you!" Gretchen exclaims. "Elle has drugged you ... and taken Claire! Please, Peter! You've got to wake up!"

Alert at once, Peter jumps from the bed, panic taking over his features. "Are you sure?" he asks.

"She's not in our room," she tells him. "She's not on the beach. She's not answering my screams! And, Rene is gone too! Where else could they be at four o'clock in the morning?"

Peter takes her arm gently and urges her out of the room and into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

"Did you see Elle?" he asks, the panic in his eyes gone, replaced with a look of sheer focus and determination.

"Well ... no. But, she told me about her ... that Elle was after her. And ... about the baby," says Gretchen, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "That's where she is ... right? They've taken her to ... impregnate her."

Taking note of the terror in Gretchen's eyes, Peter gives her arm a reassuring squeeze. "We'll find her," he tells her. "I promise. We're not going to let Elle get away with this, Gretchen ... I swear to you."

"That we does include me ... right?" she asks.

He lets go of her arm and takes a step back, shaking his head with a confused smile. "What do you mean ... include you?"

"I mean, you're not going to go flying off to find Claire without me ... right?"

"You know Claire would want you to stay here and be safe," Peter replies, giving her a stern look that reminds her of Claire. "You have to know that, Gretchen. She would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you."

"I really don't give a shit what happens to me anymore," she tells him, her words almost coming out as a growl. "All I care about right now is getting Claire back ... safe; where she belongs. And, unpregnant, if we can help it!"

"Look, Gretchen," he says, trying his best to sound reasonable. "No offense, but ... you've got no powers. You're helpless against these people, and Claire knows it. If you came with me, you'd only be putting her in more danger."

"How is that even possible? There's no such thing as more danger, Peter. This is already as dangerous as it gets ... and I can tell you agree with me. I could see it in your eyes the moment I told you they'd taken her!"

He sighs and shuffles his feet. "Fine. Say I take you with me. How am I supposed to protect you and protect Claire at the same time? Did you ever think of that?"

"I'm not totally useless, you know," says Gretchen, pulling the comforter tighter around her. "I used to be a cop. But ... you already knew that ... didn't you?"

Suddenly, Gretchen is taken back to the day she was handed Claire's case in New York. She had bumped into a man at the coffee shop ... a man with a crooked smile, who had spilled coffee on her, and then had rushed out after a brief apology.

"You were following me in New York," she says, realizing this for the first time. "Weren't you?"

Peter looks down, then back up with a shy smile. "I had to make sure you would fall on Claire's side, when the chips came down. I was already against her robbery scheme. I knew that the last thing she needed was you turning against her."

"And, you must have decided I was okay," Gretchen surmises, "Or ... I wouldn't be here right now ... would I?"

He shakes his head in confirmation, smiling in belated apology.

"So ... why not allow me to help you now? Help her now?" she asks, a look of unfaltering determination on her face. "I wouldn't be asking if I thought it would put her in more danger ... surely you can see that."

"You can't defend yourself against Elle with a Glock, Gretchen," he says, as if she hasn't already assumed that herself.

"Claire can't defend herself either ... at least, not any more than I can," she points out. "She said she had learned martial arts. Peter, I can do that too! I can learn anything ... and I will learn anything ... if it will save Claire and bring her back where she belongs!"

"What you're talking about could take months," he tells her, "years even. It takes some people a lifetime."

"We don't have a lifetime," she agrees with emphasis, "But, I'm a quick learner. How soon can we get started?"

Peter sighs, considering this, and rubs at his chin in thought for a moment.

"It will take time for me to find out where Elle's taken Claire," he admits finally. "She has a thousand different locations at her disposal ... and I'm sure the one she's taken her to is the one place I don't already know about. In the meantime, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you went through some training with Hiro ... I guess, the least we could do is give you the chance. After all ..."

Suppressing a grin, he rubs at his chin again and says, "... I can see by the way you're dressed that you and my niece have gotten ... more familiar? I totally get why you want to come with me. If it were Stephanie going through this ... well ... there isn't a force on Earth that could stop me from finding her at all costs."

Both embarrassed by his comments and relieved by his decision, Gretchen pulls the comforter tighter again and says, "So ... when can we start?"

"Soon," he answers. "Hiro is coming in a few hours. I'll send you with him when he gets here, and I'll start looking for Claire."

Gretchen closes her eyes. Now that they have an actual plan, her focus is beginning to shift from panic to a deep sadness. She knows she'll have to suck it up later. She knows she'll have to find a way to shove that sadness down, in order to focus on saving Claire. But ... just for now, she gives it one last moment to show itself; one last moment to rear it's ugly head before she squashes it forever.

"Peter," she breathes out, her eyes still tightly shut against the world. "Please tell me we're going to find her. Please tell me she's going to be all right."

He places a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it in affirmation. "We'll find her, Gretchen. I promise."

Letting the tears fall finally, she collapses against him and begins to weep. He puts his arms around her tight without a word, and gives her that moment she so desperately needs.

I'm not going to let them hurt you, Claire. I'll find you, I swear. If it's the last thing I do ... I'm going to bring you back safe.

But, even as she's thinking this, she cannot help thinking as well: What are they doing to you? What is Elle putting you through right now? Are you suffering?

And ... it is almost enough to drive her mad with grief.

*the end ... for now ...*